Lyn went to church and then we went on the local walking tour. We met at the stocks, last used in anger in the 17th Century. While day trippers swarmed the shops and cafes; 4 Germans, 2 Australians and a couple who sounded like they were from Liverpool, learned about the coaching inns, breweries, architecture and general history of the place.
Stow is the meeting place of numerous ancient trails and the Iron Age folk built very large earthworks for their town on the height. The occasional vista gives a sense of your altitude.
The medieval to Victorian prosperity of the town was due to the wool trade. There are alleys called “tures” for moving the sheep from open areas to village squares - and counting them. The substantial town buildings and massive church reflect the wealth of the district. In the dying days of the English Civil War, Charles I in Oxford tried to gather one last army from the West Country but the Roundheads intercepted the Royalists outside Stow and defeated them. After the tour Lyn asked our guide for directions to the ancient spring-fed wells which had made human settlement here a good idea. (There is no river.) She kindly walked us to the top of the road and we wandered down. There we watched two men washing their ponies.
The graveyard of St Edwards.
The weird semicircular shapes on top of these tombs represent wool sacks.
A ture
The old water fountain. There was no mains water till 1939!
St Edward’s.
At the extraordinary “Evil Door” of St Edward’s.
Lyn at the well.
The Iron Age earthwork with part of modern Stow perched on top.
We walked home to Sheep Street for lunch and a rest before afternoon adventures.
This is the living room of our cottage. Lyn is not leaving from a cupboard. This is the stairway leading to the bedrooms and bathroom.
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